Page 1 of 1

The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 07:05pm
by MKSheppard
Today, while hunting through a huge pile of trash (10 x 55 gallon bags easily) dumped in some woods that we had to clean up today; I picked up a faded mountain dew collectible can with jar jar on it from episode 1.

Just think, that can survived 16 years in the woods until I picked it up to take it to the trash dump.

"All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die."

EDIT:

Image
Image

Can in question.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 07:08pm
by Vympel
Should've taken a photo. Even so, this still sounds sad as hell. I bet Jar Jar was giving that stupid fucking thumbs up.

EDIT: Wow, that can almost looks brand new. Its as sad as I imagined.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 07:23pm
by MKSheppard
Actually, that's a photo of a "like new" can that I found to illustrate.

The actual can was very heavily faded; but still recognizable (Jar Jar, green, etc)

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 07:44pm
by biostem
It's kind of funny to see how various characters are promoted, vs how they are presented in the movie and received by the fandom... Captain Phasma was probably promoted as much in various material for TFA, but look how little she has to do with the movie...

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 08:07pm
by Vympel
biostem wrote:It's kind of funny to see how various characters are promoted, vs how they are presented in the movie and received by the fandom... Captain Phasma was probably promoted as much in various material for TFA, but look how little she has to do with the movie...
I googled some prequel merchandise articles out of random curiosity and it is really insane how big the marketing drive was for TPM - every indication was that it was far in excess of TFA. We're talking insane levels - 26 different "collectibles" of the same set from 5 different fast-food store type shit. Just imagine the landfill.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-19 09:54pm
by Simon_Jester
I... actually need to see that movie at the earliest feasible time... hopefully before it runs out of theaters.

[Was preparing for a major trip among other things when it came out]

But it occurs to me that since I gather Captain Phasma isn't dead or anything, she might well end up having a somewhat more prominent role in later movies. Although the character certainly is very merchandisable, being a big shiny stormtrooper.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 12:40am
by RogueIce
Oh man, I remember those cans. I had an Anakin, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

Also the Pizza Hut, Taco Ball (damn that dog!) and KFC crossovers they did. The latter two got their mascots, I think. The stupid Chihuahua was definitely there, and I guess a Colonel Sanders for KFC. But Pizza Hut got like the hottest delivery girl ever for their representative. I think she's still a little Internet famous all these years later.

At least, I remember her. :razz:

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 03:22am
by Sidewinder
biostem wrote:It's kind of funny to see how various characters are promoted, vs how they are presented in the movie and received by the fandom... Captain Phasma was probably promoted as much in various material for TFA, but look how little she has to do with the movie...
At least Phasma doesn't make you want to reach through the screen and physically strangle the character.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 12:44pm
by Borgholio
My dad and I went to Toys R Us back before EP-1 came out and stood in line at midnight to pick up a couple Darth Maul lightsabers, a pair of Qui Gon lightsabers, and misc other stuff. Much of it we still have but the value is less than when we bought it. Oh man, that movie was so over-hyped....

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 01:01pm
by Purple
So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 01:04pm
by Eternal_Freedom
Yes.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 01:10pm
by Borgholio
Purple wrote:So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?
No. If you were actually a person you wouldn't like him.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 01:12pm
by Eternal_Freedom
Good point. I'm being too generous again. I shall have to go and exterminate something to rstore my true Dalek nature.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 05:00pm
by biostem
Purple wrote:So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?
I've been watching The Clone Wars, and it irks me that they even gave Jar Jar his own episodes...

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 05:16pm
by Galvatron
biostem wrote:
Purple wrote:So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?
I've been watching The Clone Wars, and it irks me that they even gave Jar Jar his own episodes...
I always wondered if that was a mandate from George or if Dave Filoni actually wanted to do Jar Jar episodes.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 05:20pm
by biostem
Galvatron wrote:
biostem wrote:
Purple wrote:So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?
I've been watching The Clone Wars, and it irks me that they even gave Jar Jar his own episodes...
I always wondered if that was a mandate from George or if Dave Filoni actually wanted to do Jar Jar episodes.
Ironically, there were some Artoo/Treepio-centric episodes, and they were usually pretty good.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 05:41pm
by Galvatron
I'm not sure why that's ironic since the droids have never been nearly as unpopular as Jar Jar.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 05:46pm
by Vympel
Borgholio wrote:My dad and I went to Toys R Us back before EP-1 came out and stood in line at midnight to pick up a couple Darth Maul lightsabers, a pair of Qui Gon lightsabers, and misc other stuff. Much of it we still have but the value is less than when we bought it. Oh man, that movie was so over-hyped....
Its not really the movie's fault - the only SW collectibles with any value are:

1. Star Wars LEGO - just like all LEGO (note: if they keep producing a set well beyond they normally cease production, you could lose out big - refer to the LEGO Death Star);
2. Original Trilogy Star Wars toys - those released when the films first came out.

Toys produced in the 1990s onwards were produced in vast quantities, and are unlikely to ever be worth anything. Maybe many decades from now. Maybe.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 07:14pm
by Sidewinder
Purple wrote:So basically I am the only person on earth who liked Jar Jar?
You can probably count the number of people ON PLANET EARTH who actually like Jar Jar Binks, on the fingers of one hand- and one of them is George Lucas himself.

Re: The Ghosts of Star Wars Merchandising Past...

Posted: 2016-01-20 07:34pm
by Batman
The number of people who truly hated Jar Jar is probably relatively small compared to the ones who merely found him annoying or useless but yes I think there's very few people who actually liked him.